Rocket ships and swings

Rocket ships and swings

by Garrison Frost

So this hip problem has forced me off my feet and onto the exercise bike, a situation I can only bear if I have some kind of reading material. Recently it was a copy of Dwell magazine, which usually only serves to spur my jealous desire for a large environment-friendly modern home with hardwood floors. But this particularly copy of the magazine featured an extended article on progressive playground design. As the father of a wild little person, I found the article quite interesting. Even as I recreated under fluorescent lights on a fake bicycle.

As the article pointed out quite clearly, playgrounds have changed quite a bit since I was little enough to enjoy them. Pondering this gave rise to two opposite notions that I believe at the same time. The first is that the old playground equipment that I grew up using was fantastic, and that it’s a shame that it’s gone. The second is that the old playground equipment I grew up with was shamefully dangerous and that we’re much better off with the stuff we have now.

Perhaps the favorite playground of my youth was the one at Hermosa Beach’s Valley Park. The play furniture there was mostly of the steel pipe variety, crafted in the shape of space ships and submarines. You could play for hours on that stuff and create all sorts of scenarios with your friends. While Valley Park had the best collection of equipment, my favorite pieces were always the rocket ships that one found in various South Bay playgrounds. These too were usually constructed of steel, and featured lots of rooms and different levels. And they were everywhere. I remember rockets in Manhattan Beach, Redondo Beach, Palos Verdes, Torrance – but I’m sure there lots of others. I wonder if the proliferation of rockets around the South Bay’s playgrounds was some kind of nod to the area’s aerospace industry, or just a reflection of young boys’ sense of fantasy/adventure.

At the same time I enjoyed the rockets, I always had affection for the odd playground equipment. I recall Manhattan Beach having a lot of these, but that is probably just because I grew up in Manhattan Beach and am more familiar with its playground history. I remember these giant concrete things at Live Oak Park – turtles and bugs and things that weren’t necessarily even fun to play on. And there was this ridiculous climbing tree at Robinson School made of used tires nailed to wooden posts. Great stuff. Weird, but great. There was even a giant wooden ship at Polliwog Park that I believe actually burned down.

While I wax sentimental about those old playgrounds, I am actually quite pleased that my daughter is not playing on them. Steel, lead paint, treated wood – none of this is stuff that kids really ought to be thrashing around in. Looking back, I’m surprised there weren’t injuries all over the place. But I’m sure the ones that did happen were hideous. I can just imagine what might have happened to a kid slipping while on the top level of the Valley Park submarine, body parts striking steel bars all the way down. So, yes, good riddance submarine. I’ll always remember it fondly.

(June 6, 2007)